


Friend or Foe

by luckywerewolf



Series: Forgotten Unsubs [1]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Agent As Unsub, Behavioral Analysis Unit (Criminal Minds), Canon Compliant, Implied Relationships, Unsub | Unknown Subject
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-17 21:15:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29598852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luckywerewolf/pseuds/luckywerewolf
Summary: A month after Gideon dies, there is a string of murdered Sex Offenders around the D.C. area. As the team tries to find their unsubscribes, Spencer Reid is reminded of an old friend who fits the profile. What happens when Elle Greenaway is brought back into his life?
Relationships: Elle Greenaway/Spencer Reid
Series: Forgotten Unsubs [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2174571
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20





	Friend or Foe

**Author's Note:**

> There are so many different unsub storylines that had such potential to be added in the later seasons, so I decided to create them myself. Who better to start off with than our favorite forgotten agent, Elle Greenaway?

Arlington, Virginia was no stranger to the sounds of gunshots in the dead of the night. Being a suburb of D.C., it had heard it’s fair share. Nobody would have questioned hearing a couple of gunshots go off in the middle of the night, had they heard it. Nobody questioned when a woman walked out of a townhouse, flecks of blood still painted on her face, gloves quickly coming off and being deposited in her pocket. A smirk danced across her face as she walked back to her car, and drove away. All that was left to be seen of the night’s events was a dead body inside the living room of the townhouse, and the word predator written on the wall across from him. 

~

Walking into the BAU, Morgan and Callahan were discussing their past weekend. 

“Meg was complaining all weekend about how I wouldn’t let her get tickets to this concert her and her friend wanted to go to. Some boy band I’ve never heard of” they crossed to their desks as the conversation continued. “She wanted to go just the two of them, but I told her the only way they were going to that concert was with an adult going with them” she concluded. Morgan chuckled. 

“She wants her freedom. Can’t blame her for that” Morgan commented. Kate reluctantly agreed. 

“The joys of raising a teenager” she jokes. Hotch’s office door opened. 

“Let’s gather everyone. We’ve got a case” he informs. They all move into the conference room as Garcia pulls up the case. 

“Hello my bright, beautiful friends. Now I usually love to talk about up and coming artwork, but this painting is a doozy. We have three caucasian men, all in the 20’s to 40’s range, murdered in their own homes in Arlington, Virginia. They were shot once in the abdomen, and once in the head” She recited as she pulled the information up on the tv. “Now here is where the not so artistic artwork comes in. Each victim was facing the wall of their homes, and on the wall was a word written in each of their blood”. She pulled up three different pictures. The pictures read, “Defiler, Molester, Predator” on them. Hotch piped up in that moment. 

“The victim’s names are Adam Dreesans, Carl Dallas, and Brooklyn Harvey. Arlington police have confirmed for us that all three men have varying pasts either as convicted or accused sex offenders” he recounted. 

“So we’re looking for a vigilante,” Morgan hypothesized. “This unsub feels that these men weren’t rightfully prosecuted for their actions”. JJ shakes her head. 

“These seem more personal than that. The writing on the wall is a pretty specific calling card” she surmises. 

“It could be that the unsub was assaulted themself?” Rossi guessed. 

“We can figure it out when we get there. Arlington police have requested our help. Morgan, Rossi; head to the last crime scene, Alrington police will meet you there. Reid and JJ, head to the ME. Kate and I will stay here and coordinate with the local police” Hotch nodded and everyone moved to get up. Everyone but Reid. He sat there for a moment, eyes moving quickly while he thought. Garcia noticed him still sitting in the room. 

“Hey, boy wonder? What’s going on in that head of yours?” She asked. Reid looks up at her. 

“Nothing,” he shakes his head. “This case just seems a little familiar is all. Not the whole thing, just pieces that seem familiar when put together” he replies. 

“Well, you’ve worked a lot of cases. You probably worked a similar one to this a while back” Garcia replied. Reid nodded. 

“I should get going. It’ll come to me eventually” Reid surmised. He got up, and they exited the conference room. 

~

At the ME, JJ and Reid meet the medical examiner on staff.  
“Dr. Thornton, I’m SSA Jenifer Jareau. This is Dr. Spencer Reid and we’re from the Behavioral Analysis Unit” JJ introduced them, shaking hands with the pathologist. The ME got right to work. 

“Well, from what I can tell these kills were fairly cut and dry. One shot to the lower left abdomen to wound them and then another one to the head which was the kill shot. All three men were killed the exact same way” Dr. Thornton informed them. She moved around the table of the latest victim, uncovering the bullet wound in the abdomen. 

“The bullet wound in the abdomen was stretched and disturbed, as if the killer had stuck their fingers into the wound. There are no prints or DNA samples found on the body though, so the killer was wearing gloves” she concluded. Reid leaned over the wound. 

“The unsub probably used the blood from the wounds to write the labels on the walls of the victims. Can you estimate the time between the two shots?” he asked the ME, looking up at her. 

“Well the shot to the abdomen was done first, and based on the erosion of the tissue around the wound compared to the head wound; I would say at least 30 minutes between the two shots” the ME explained. 

“So the victim was most likely alive when the unsub wrote the words on the wall” JJ concluded. Reid straightened his back from his previous position. 

“The unsub probably wanted the victim to suffer. Wanted them to feel a semblance of what their victims felt” Reid suggested, his mind wandering back to the feeling he felt earlier. The ME went over a few more details concerning the bullet wounds. JJ then thanked the ME and they walked out of the office, moving back to the car. JJ called Hotch from the car. 

“Hotch, it turns out the unsub delayed the death. He made the first shot, wrote the word in the victim’s blood, and then made the second shot” JJ informed. Reid continued, 

“This unsub is very proficient with the gun. Any movement to the right and the unsub would have ripped right through a couple of major organs, speeding up the process of bleeding out. However, any movement to the left would have caused the unsub to miss any major arteries or organs entirely” he explained. 

“Alright, head back here. Morgan and Rossi are on their way back from the last crime scene. Garcia has rounded up all of the information on the victims, and we can go over it once everyone gets back” Hotch declared through the phone. JJ hung up and they made the drive back to FBI Headquarters. 

~

Once back at the BAU, JJ walked towards the conference room as Reid slipped off to see Garcia. Knocking once before immediately entering, he found the technical analyst typing away at the keyboard in her cave. 

“Hey Garcia, I need a favor” he requested while walking towards her. She turned around in her chair. 

“What can I do for you, my good doctor?” she asked. 

“I need you to check up on someone for me, but…” he paused for a moment. “I need to keep this between us for a moment,” he finished. Garcia looked at him confused for a moment. 

“Okay, who do you need me to find?” she asked, turning back towards her computers. Reid paused for a moment. 

“Elle” he stated, still unsure himself. Garcia turned back towards him. 

“Elle Greenaway? Former BAU Agent, quit after suffering being shot, old friend of ours Elle?” she asked, concerned. Reid nodded. “Oh-okay”. She typed away at her computer, pulling up all Level 1 information on their former agent. “Alright, looks like after she left the BAU Elle did some traveling. When she came back to the States, she settled in Manhattan. Ever since then she’s been co-running a shelter that takes care of sexual assault survivors” Gracia concluded. Reid nodded. 

“Alright, thanks Garcia” he responded as he started to move towards the door. 

“Spencer?” she interjected, stopping Reid in his tracks. He turned back towards her. “You don’t think that Elle did this, do you?” she asked. He cocked his head sympathetically. 

“I don’t know. All of the elements individually have similar alignments with what happened to Elle before she left. However, when it’s all put together, it doesn’t make as much sense. Why would she kill these men? Why now? She’s leading this life in New York and doesn’t seem to have any connections here” Reid postulated. Garcia nodded. 

“Well, why don’t you get back and I’ll add digging a little deeper into Elle’s life into my list of things to do for this case” Garcia suggested. 

“Thanks Garcia,” Reid added as he walked out the door. 

“Anytime sunshine!” Garcia called out. She let out a sad sigh, and turned back towards her computers to start researching some more. 

~

Reid walked into the conference room as everyone was gathered around the table and evidence board. Hotch nodded to Reid before starting on the victimology. 

“So looking at the victim’s criminal history, it seems each one did in fact commit some sort of sexual assault or rape. Adam Dressans was arrested for assault on his girlfriend, but the charges were dropped. Carl Dallas molested three different children, but got out after sixty days in jail with parole because the parents wouldn’t let the kids testify. Brooklyn Harvey raped four different women, all between the ages of 15 and 18. He was convicted and served twenty years out of a forty year sentence before being released due to overcrowding and good behavior” he informed them all. 

“So we were right. The unsub is targeting perpetrators who got off easier than they should have for the crimes they committed” JJ commented. 

“That is basically where the connection stops,” Garcia interjected, walking in with her laptop. Everyone turned towards her. “I’ve looked into all of the victims and their histories with their crimes. None of them overlap, none of them happened in the area, and none of the victims knew each other. The only thing that connects these men together is the fact that they all moved into the Arlington area after not receiving their just desserts” Garcia informed them all. Kate nodded and moved in front of the board. Pointing to the victim’s pictures, she articulated, 

“Anyone with a basic knowledge of government and police websites could find information on these men’s crimes. The last two murders could’ve been been found through a basic list of known sex offenders in the area. The first one however, they would have to know how to access files to find the report on the assault” Callahan concluded. 

“Not necessarily” Morgan interjected. Rossi nodded. 

“If the unsub knew the girlfriend that was assaulted, they wouldn’t need police files. They would already have the story” Rossi stated. 

“The first kill was personal, and the others happened as an addiction. Once the killing started, the unsub couldn’t stop” Hotch added on. Reid moved in front of the victim board. Something didn’t add up. 

“Spence, is there something bothering you?” JJ asked. He turned back towards the team. 

“There are things that don’t fit about these murders. All of the previous crimes happened years ago. What triggered the unsub to exact revenge now?” he postulated. Before any of the team had a chance to answer, he moved on to a different area of confusion. “Also when JJ and I spoke to the ME, she indicated that the first shot to the abdomen was very precise. Any deviation from the point of origin would not have allowed for the time to write the words on the wall before killing them” he ended. 

“So our unsub is trained with a gun. Perhaps an officer or a skilled hunter that had the ability to cultivate their marksmanship” Rossi theorized. 

“So we’re looking for an unsub with proficient weapons training, the organization to keep any prints, digital or otherwise, away from the crime scenes, and personal ties to at least one of the victims. We have our work cut out for us” Hotch concluded. 

“Well then, let’s get started” Rossi announced. They moved to review all of the data once more. 

~

Just like with the previous three murders, no one questioned the shots that rang out in the middle of the night that no one heard. No one questioned the woman that entered the home in Alexandria in the middle of the night and exited no more than two hours later. No one saw the blood on her face, the gloves also covered in blood, or the smirk she displayed afterwards. It was almost as if she had never even existed. Almost.

~

Rossi, Reid, and Callahan arrived at the recent crime scene. Walking up to the apartment door, they saw that the door hadn’t been forced open; meaning the victim let the unsub in. They walked into the apartment, maneuvering around crime scene techs and yellow tape. 

“Morning Dr. Thornton, these are my team members SSA David Rossi and SSA Kate Callahan” Reid greeted the ME. She nodded to them, saying hello briefly before turning to the latest victim. 

“Nothing is different about this victim from the previous three” Dr. Thornton commented. 

“Can you estimate a time of death?” Rossi asked. Dr. Thornton turned towards Agent Rossi. 

“Based on the temperature of the body and volume of blood loss, I’d say the victim died around 1 am” she estimated. 

“That’s odd,” Reid commented. Rossi and Dr. Thornton turned towards Reid. 

“A large apartment building like this, and no one heard a gunshot around them in the middle of the night?” Callahan asked. 

“Our unsub must have been smart enough to use a silencer on the gun,” Rossi suggested. 

“Hearing a gunshot in a neighborhood with townhouses would have been much more common than hearing it in an apartment building. The unsub must have known that” Reid continued. 

“You know, all of this continues to point towards the unsub having been in law enforcement” Callahan pointed out. Reid looked from the victim to the wall, following the trail of blood to the word written on the wall. “Rapist”. 

“Defiler. Molester. Predator. Rapist. They’re all synonyms for one another, but have entirely different meanings in convictions. It’s almost like an escalation” Reid theorized. 

“If the unsub is escalating, is the rapist the last escalation? If not, what is larger than rape?” Rossi asked. Callahan looked up at the two of them. 

“Serial Rape” she replied. They looked back at the word written on the wall that was at the epicenter of the crime. “Rapist”. 

~

Back at the BAU, Hotch and JJ were going over the victimology once again. 

“So location isn’t important to the unsub. He travels to wherever the next victim is” JJ thought aloud. Hotch nodded, uncrossing his arms as he looked over the map projected on the screen in front of him. The map spread over the greater D.C. area, spanning from New York to North Carolina, with digital pins marking each crime scene. 

“The unsub could live in any state surrounding Virginia, and have mode of transportation getting there and back within a single night. Our unsub could be anywhere” he concluded. Morgan walked into the conference room, hanging up his phone as he walked towards Hotch and JJ. 

“Rossi, Reid, and Callahan just pulled back into the parking garage. Callahan is leaning towards the theory that the unsub is someone connected with law enforcement, and she thinks that the unsub is going to escalate to a serial rapist as his next victim” Morgan informed them. 

“Alright; Morgan, you go and have Garcia track down anybody who might fit that description. The rest of us can build and deliver the profile once the others get back” Hotch instructed. Morgan turned and walked towards Garcia’s batcave, only to see the door ajar with Reid and Garcia in there. He walked towards it slowly, not wanting to intrude on the private conversation. He was about to turn around when he saw Garcia hand Reid a file. Instead of waiting, he walked right up to the door. 

“She hasn’t been missing a single day of work, there’s no financial trail leading her to Arlington or Alexandria. Boy Wonder, if I didn’t see the similarities between what happened to her and these cases I would be questioning your genius. But, are you absolutely sure?” he heard Garcia ask. Reid flicked through the file. 

“Does she have a registered gun license?” he asks. Garcia moves to type something into her computer. 

“Yeah. She does have a gun license” Garcia replies after a moment. They pause, and Morgan takes it as his opportunity to walk in. He knocks on the door once before entering the office. 

“Hey, what’s going on here?” he asks as he walks in. Garcia and Reid look between each other quickly. “Kid, you know whatever it is, you can trust me” he continued. Reid looked down at the case file before looking back up at Morgan. He hesitated before beginning his theory. 

“When Hotch and Garcia first presented the case to us, it felt familiar to me. The gunshot wounds, the writing on the wall, and the victim reminded me of what I thought was a case, but couldn’t place. After JJ and I visited the ME’s office, I realized that what was familiar wasn’t an old case we worked. It was a person in multiple cases, “ Reid paused again, almost unsure of what he was going to say next. “Derek, the person this case reminded me of was Elle” he finally blurted out. There was a tension hanging in the air, and Derek looked confused. Reid handed him the file to look through. 

“Elle was shot inside her home in the exact same place as her victims. The shooter wrote the word “Rules” on the wall in her blood. On her first case back, and her last case at the BAU, she killed a rapist that was let walk free claiming that he had a gun on him. Morgan, all of us had our suspicions that that wasn’t the case and she left the Bureau right afterwards” he explained. Reid couldn’t look up at Morgan anymore, terrified that he was wrong whilst knowing in his gut that he was right. 

“Reid. This is all could be just circumstantial. I mean, it’s very similar but there’s nothing actually tying Elle to this case” Morgan explained. Reid opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it again. “Kid, look at me” Reid did as Morgan directed and made eye contact with his friend. “If you’re sure about this, then why didn’t you bring this up before?” he asked. Tears began to well up in Reid’s eyes. 

“I could tell when we went on that case that she wasn’t okay. She was drinking, and projecting her PTSD onto the case. I went to her hotel room one of the nights, and asked her to talk to me. I-I just wanted to help, but I didn’t know how. She let me into her room and I watched as she drank through the mini bar. She described to me how it felt-- how he reached into her bullet wound to dig for the blood. How it felt like she had been violated the same way someone who was sexually assaulted would feel” he let it all go in one breath. “I-I should have done more. I should have talked to Hotch or Gideon. I knew she wasn’t handling it well, and if things had been different maybe she hadn’t killed that man… or killed these now” Reid ended. Morgan let out a deep sigh that he didn’t know he was holding. 

“Kid, what happened then wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known what she was going to do. Elle made that choice all on her own when she went out looking for that man. There was nothing that you could have done” he comforted the man he saw as his little brother. “But none of this links Elle to these crimes definitively. I’m willing to back your play, always, but it needs to be more concrete if we are gonna bring this to Hotch” Morgan relented. Reid wiped his eyes quickly, and took the file back from Morgan. 

“Elle co-runs a sexual assault survivor shelter in Manhattan. She has a gun license, and knows how to access all of the files needed to find these men. All of this, plus the unique M.O. that coincides with her own personal trauma… it’s Elle, Morgan. I know it is, and if we get Garcia more time I know she can find evidence directly linking her to the crimes” Reid retorted with a newfound determination in his voice. Garcia nodded agreeingly, already moving to sit back at her computer and work her magic. 

“Okay but what’s the stressor? Why now, after all these years?” Morgan asked. Reid stared at him dead in the eyes with a look of despair. 

“The first victim was killed exactly one month after Gideon died” he concluded. Derek’s face fell and he shook his head, turning back towards the door. 

“Wait!” Garcia interjected. “Where are you going?” she asked. He turned back around and looked at Penelope. 

“To go tell Hotch. Now work those magic fingers of yours baby girl and find us a tangible thread connecting Elle to this case” he replied. Garcia turned back towards her computers. 

“It will be quicker than lightning speed my delicious glass of water” she threw back at him. Derek turned to look at Reid. 

“C’mon pretty boy,” he exclaimed. “We’ve gotta deliver the profile”. They moved out of the batcave in hopes that they weren’t wrong about the profile about to be delivered to the team. 

~

Twenty minutes later, and the team is at a loss for words. Derek and Spencer presented their entire theory to them, and nobody knew what to think. To the more objective team members (i.e. Rossi and Callahan) the theory made perfect sense and gave probable cause to bring her in for questioning. For Hotch and JJ however, they were conflicted with their personal feelings about Elle as their former team member and friend. They needed proof that Elle could actually be linked to these crimes. Right on time with that was a phone call to the conference room from Garcia. 

Whatcha got for me baby girl?” Morgan called out. 

“Alright so I did a little bit of profiling myself and pulled two questions from the cases that we hadn’t solved. Who is the ex-girlfriend of the first victim and how does Elle connect to this case? So I did some digging, and I found her” Garcia called out through the speaker. “Sending this info to your tablets now, the girlfriend’s name is Chelsea Marlowe. She dated our first victim on and off for about three years during college. Apparently one night her roommate came home to find that Chelsea had been assaulted; her clothes were torn apart, there were bruises on her arms and hips, and blood running down Chelsea’s legs. The roommate called the police and pointed the finger at the recently broken up boyfriend. Police arrested him, but had to drop the charges against him because Chelsea had blacked out the entire event and couldn’t positively I.D. him. How does this connect to Elle you may ask? Well after college, Chelsea started receiving counseling for her trauma through a group therapy session for assault survivors that Elle also attended off and on. Both of them stopped going to the therapy altogether two months before opening up the nonprofit sexual assault survivor shelter that they run together” she concluded. 

“Hotch,” Reid started. The Unit Chief looked up at his youngest team member. “Elle has a personal connection to the first murder. We profiled that the unsub would have a personal connection to the first murder. Chelsea must have unlocked the part of her subconscious that blocked out her ex-boyfriend’s identity during one of those therapy sessions. Gideon died, and that must’ve triggered something in Elle to seek justice that she doesn’t feel she ever got” he ended. Hotch looked around at the members of the team that worked with her. Their expressions ranged from confused, to upset, to dejected. None of them wanted to believe it was possible, but all of them knew what happened in Elle's last case that caused her to leave the Bureau permanently. They all knew exactly what she was capable of. Hotch sucked in a deep breath. 

“Let’s take a minute, rework the profile. Place Elle into the narrative and track her movements, going back to the beginning of the shelter. I want financial records, phone records, and online history” He ordered over the phone as he moved to the victimology board. They needed to start from scratch. “Oh, and Penelope I need-” he started before Garcia cut him off. 

“A list of all known sex offenders, including crimes and last known addresses, located in the suburbs outside of Washington D.C.? Already sent to your tablets. Now, I shall get back to you in a jiffy, and trust me I will leave no stone unturned. Garcia Out!” She exclaimed before hanging up the phone. 

Hotch turned towards his team. “Okay. Let’s start back at the beginning” he ordered. 

“Well the first victim was Adam-” Callahan started. 

“No. That’s not the beginning. We need to start at Elle’s beginning” Hotch interrupted. Reid moved to pin a picture of Elle to the board. 

“Elle Greenaway was a former member of the BAU. She worked here with us and Gideon before Rossi came back from retirement. She was shot inside her home by an unsub that was stalking the team. The unsub shot her, and then used her blood to write the word “Rules” on the wall before leaving her to bleed out. She didn’t. Anderson found her, and Elle recovered” Morgan recounted. 

“Physically, she recovered. Elle was suffering from PTSD and not handling it well. She was drinking and she took her last case very hard. It was a case about a pedophile, and the man walked away without getting charged… and so she shot him. Staged it as self-defense” Reid continued.

“I made her resign from the BAU the next day. We all knew that it wasn’t self defense, and I couldn’t keep her on the team while doubting whether she could perform the job” Hotch concluded. 

“So that is the actual beginning. From there Garcia tracked her travels overseas before coming back to the States'' Reid explained, taking the picture they now had of the first girlfriend and placing it next to Elle’s photograph. “She settled in Manhattan and attended a support group for assault survivors, where she met Chelsea; the girlfriend of our first victim Adam Dressans'' he stated, moving the picture of Adam Dressans directly beneath them. 

“So they go to therapy together, become friends, and start their own shelter for abuse victims. That sounds like someone moving on, not someone planning a vigilante type killing spree” JJ commented. Rossi added in at this moment. 

“That’s because it wasn’t. She seemed to be moving on, until the killing began…” he trailed off for a moment before picking up his tablet and searching for something. “Date of death…” he trailed off again. “Kid,” he picked up, looking at Reid “is this?” he questioned, knowing that Reid knew exactly what he meant. Reid nodded. 

“Adam Dressans was killed exactly a month after Gideon died” he confirmed. 

“Well there’s your stressor. She probably feels that by Gideon dying she lost out on a chance of vindication in her mind, and in killing these men she is getting justice for them” he concluded. 

“So she probably learned about Dressans before Gideon’s death, but after he died she felt compelled to bring justice for her friend” Callahan theorized, looking through the findings on her tablet. “She realized that she could get to Arlington and back in a single night. Work on caring for survivors during the day and kill the predators at night; true vigilante fashion” she simplified, looking up at Hotch who was looking down at his tablet. He looked up to speak again,

“David, JJ, and Kate. Why don’t the three of you head up to Manhattan. Talk to Chelsea, find out everything you can about her life up there. The rest of us will head down to Arlington, try to find who she’s going to be targeting next” he directed. Rossi, JJ, and Callahan left for the jet while Reid, Morgan, and Hotch left for the van; all hoping to catch their former teammate before she kills again. 

~

It’s night before any of them get in contact with one another again. The team in Arlington had narrowed down their list to three different potential victims, Garcia had tracked where she possibly bought the gun and silencer, and the team in Manhattan were talking to Chelsea at that moment. In the car, Hotch was driving with Morgan in the front seat and Reid in the backseat. Morgan picked up the phone when it rang, putting it on speaker for everyone else to hear. 

“Rossi, what’d you find out from Chelsea?” he asked into the speaker. Rossi’s voice called out from the phone. 

“It turns out that each of the victims corresponds with a survivor that Elle had taken care of at the shelter. They weren’t direct assaulters, just surrogates. There was Chelsea with the first victim, then a kid named Rogers who was molested when he was 8, and finally a 16 year old girl named Brittany who was raped” he reported.  
“We’ve got three potential victims on our list, do you have any other patrons of the shelter that Elle worked with?” Reid questioned. 

JJ chimed in with the answer. “Elle was working with a number of people, but there were two others that stood out personally. One victim was assaulted by a teacher, and another was the victim of gang rape by a fraternity”. 

“Gang rape. That’s gotta be it” Reid exclaimed. He looked through the records of their three potential victims, before landing on the last one. “Here. Garrett McCarty. He was a fraternity president that was arrested after the fraternity’s hazing ritual went beyond the law and ended with the sexual violation of one of their pledges by the rest of the fraternity”. He pointed out. 

“Where am I headed, Reid?” Hotch asked. 

“415 Washington St. Alexandria, Virginia. He lives in the bottom of a condo complex, the first one in the unit” Reid answered. Hotch stepped on the gas, putting the siren on and only taking it off when they had gotten within earshot of the condo complex. They pulled up to the victims condo, cutting the lights and rolling up the driveway slowly. Once the car was in park, the three of them got out of the car with their vests already on. They approached the door; Morgan at the front, Hotch to his left, and Reid standing behind them. Morgan placed his ear against the door, hearing the faint sound of a silenced gun going off. He looked up to Hotch who nodded before allowing Morgan to kick the door down as he usually does. 

“Elle Greenaway! FBI!” Morgan shouted as they entered the building. Morgan, Hotch, and Reid entered the building, walking into the living room where Elle had just killed her victim. She looked up, startled and moved to point her gun at Hotch, who was the farthest in the room. Reid was in front of her, and Morgan was closest to the door. Elle stood, gun cocked at Hotch but not paying attention to either him or Morgan. “Elle put the gun down” Morgan commanded. She flicked her eyes towards Morgan for a single sparing glance before turning back towards the focus of her attention: Spencer Reid.

“Spencer” she breathed out, as if she was grateful to see him again after all those years. She smiled at him, and he returned it; glad that she was okay but sad over the circumstances that led them there. 

“Hey Elle” he replied back. Reid lowered his gun, holstering it while Morgan and Hotch quietly protested at him. “How have you been?” he asked softly. She chuckled, 

“I've been better. How about you? You look good Reid” she complimented her old teammate. He smiled back at her. 

“I’ve been better too. You know Elle, I’ve always hoped that we would reconnect; I just wish it didn’t have to happen like this” he articulated solemnly. 

“Awww Spencer, be careful or some people may think you had a crush on me” she bantered. Reid chuckled but didn't say anything. Hotch and Morgan looked between them, confused; as if there was an inside joke being told. A moment of silence passed. “You could’ve called, you know? If you wanted to get my attention” she interjected. 

“So could’ve you. You didn’t have to resort to this to get what you wanted” Reid explained. Elle shook her head. 

“You don’t know what I want,” she insisted. 

“I do though” he interjected. “You want justice. For these victims, for the survivors in the shelter, for Chelsea... for you” Elle cocked her head at the last one. “You didn’t get the help you needed. We didn’t give it to you. All of us on the team, we just sat by and watched you flounder after you were attacked. Hotch, Morgan, JJ, Garcia, Gideon, Me?” he expressed. Elle’s face softened. 

“You tried. You tried, but I wouldn’t let you” she reminded him. Reid smiled. He took a step towards her, somehow knowing that she wouldn’t harm him. 

“I didn’t know how to help you then. I do now though” he stated. She looked at him, confused. “You went through something horrible, something traumatic that the BAU couldn’t prevent. It left you damaged, in more ways than you can imagine, and the team didn’t bother to help you. Gideon, a man you saw as a father figure, didn’t bother to help you” he expressed empathetically. She moved her gun to point it again at Hotch, as if her arm was getting tired. 

“How would you know how I felt?” Elle questioned, a hint of desperation in her voice. Reid licked his lips, looking down before sparing glances at both Hotch and Morgan before turning his focus back to Elle. 

“I- I know because I went through it too,” he stated, staring right into her eyes as they softened again. “It was a while after you had left the team. We took a case in Georgia, an unsub executing people and leaving voicemails for first responders. JJ and I went to a witness’ house to get a follow up statement. Something felt off about him, so JJ and I went searching for him without calling for backup. Turns out, he was the unsub and he took me hostage while we searched his grounds” Spencer recounted.

“Reid-” Hotch tried to interject. Elle whipped her head to Hotch. 

“Let him finish,” she insisted. She turned her head back towards Reid, and he continued. 

“The unsub held me for two days, torturing me, forcing me to choose the next person to die, and streaming parts of it for the team to see. The unsub had multiple personalities; one did the killing, one tortured me, and the other nursed me whilst getting me high on dilaudid. I died once, came back to life, sentenced a couple to death, figured out where I was, got that information to the team, dug my own grave, and killed the unsub myself; all while developing a dependence on the drug I was being forced to take” Reid continued to recount. 

“Let me guess,” Elle interrupted. “None of them did anything to get you off of the drug”. Reid shook his head. 

“The most I got from any of them, any of the people I call my family” he emphasized the word family. “was strange looks and Gideon telling me to get it together or leave the Bureau. I got myself clean, I got myself into NA; and everyone else just sat back and let me suffer through it” he confirmed for her. Reid took another step forward, now standing right in front of Elle. “My point is, I know what it’s like to have the team turn their back on you when you need them the most. I’m not gonna turn away from you now like I did back then. I just need you to give me the gun” he pleaded. Elle’s expression turned a bit frantic, and a bit angry. 

“They deserved to be punished. These men didn’t get the punishment they deserved for the crimes they commited” she expressed, turning her head back to the dead man behind her. 

“I know. I know Elle, but you know better than anyone that we can’t take the law into our own hands” Reid insisted. She scoffed,

“Spencer, I broke that oath the moment I killed that rapist all those years ago. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it” she asserted. 

“I know. I know, but it doesn’t have to end the way you and I think this is going to end. Just give me the gun, and we can all walk out of here” he digressed. 

“Spencer, c’mon” she laughed. “I’m a former FBI agent turned killer. Do you really think I’m gonna go anywhere but a federal prison?” she asked. Her face sobered up for a moment. “I don’t want to go to prison Reid”. He nodded his head. 

“We can think of something. A good lawyer, a plea of a mental break. We can’t do any of that if this ends with you dead. Just give me the gun, and this can all be over” Reid pleaded one final time. He looked at her sincerely, and she looked over to her arm holding the gun. Reid reached over to it slowly, grabbing the gun from her and moving his arm backwards so Hotch could take it from him. Elle rushed forward, hugging Reid. He hugged her back, relieved and letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. 

“It’s okay” he breathed out, unsure who he was comforting at this point. “It’s gonna be okay”. They separated, and Morgan gently grabbed Elle and handcuffed her before handing her off to the local PD that had just arrived on the scene moments ago.

~

Reid sat outside on the steps of the condo, after the crime scene had been processed and almost everyone had left. He sat there with his coat on and his hands folded in his lap. Hotch and Morgan were talking off to the side before looking over to Reid. They walked over to him, and stood over him for a moment while Reid pointedly kept his eyes pointed towards the ground. Hotch squatted down to be at Reid’s level. 

“Reid. Reid look at me, '' Hotch instructed. Reid raised his head to look his boss in the eyes. To anyone other than a trained behavioral analyst, he displayed a perfect poker face. To Hotch however, his boss, his friend he could tell that the genius in front of him was having trouble processing his emotions. “Spencer I need you to know-” Hotch started before Reid cut him off. 

“I was saying what needed to be said, Hotch. She needed someone to empathize with her, to see her. I did what needed to be done, we don’t need to look further into it than that” he insisted, getting up and crossing between the two men in front of him. Morgan caught his arm, pulling him back to them. 

“Kid, we know you and we know how to talk someone down. You don’t pull out a personal story like that unless there’s some truth to the feelings behind it” Morgan explained. Reid looked to the ground again. 

“Well there is some truth to it. The details of my abduction are entirely correct. I was kidnapped and tortured by Tobias Hankel and his personalities. I did have to choose the person Raphael murdered. I did figure out where I was, convey that to you, and kill the unsub all while being drugged. None of that was untrue” Reid stated. He looked back up at the two of them as they exchanged looks. 

“Did Gideon really just tell you to get it under control?” Morgan asked tentatively. Reid nodded. 

“Not in those exact words, he basically said to figure out whether I thought I still belonged at the BAU. I said that I had, but I knew that the other option was leaving” he replied. Hotch and Morgan both had an array of emotions splashed across their faces, ranging from shock, to regret, to despair. Hotch scrunched his eyebrows in contemplation. 

“He told me he was helping you,” Hotch relayed. Looking up at Reid, he continued. “When we started suspecting you were still addicted, I went to Hotch with my concerns and he told me he would take care of it. I always thought he meant that he was going to help you kick the addiction, not that he would tell you to fix your problem or leave the BAU”. 

“Yeah well, nothing you can do about it now” Reid retorted. Reid shook Morgan off of him and crossed between them again, moving towards the car. 

“Spencer! Spencer Stop!” Hotch commanded. Reid stopped in front of the car door, turning to face them again after a moment. “I know you’d rather us just drop this because you’re a very private person who doesn’t like your emotions getting ahead of you, but you need to hear this. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry that we didn’t step up to help you when we got addicted. We should’ve realized that the addiction might’ve already rooted itself in your brain. We should’ve been there to support you after you had gotten home from the hospital” Hotch apologized, sincerity displaying heavily in his voice. Reid looked Hotch right in the eyes. 

“Hotch, I get it. You could have the Bureau knowing I was seeking treatment for a narcotics addiction without risking my job. You don’t have to explain it to me” Reid surmised. 

“No, we do. Hotch wasn’t the only one that could have helped you. We all knew what you were going through and never did anything about it. You deserve an apology from all of us” Morgan expressed. Reid looked between the two before looking down at his shoes once again. 

“I don’t need anything. It was a long time ago, I’ve gotten over it” Reid murmured back. 

“Yeah? Well maybe I haven’t” Hotch replied curtly. Reid’s head shot up to look him in the eyes once more. “Spencer, you didn’t deserve everything that you went through in Georgia, and you didn’t deserve to develop an addiction. We should’ve helped you through that addiction instead of leaving you alone, and I think I speak for everyone on this team when I say that we are so sorry for not doing that” Hotch expressed. Reid shifted uncomfortably as he leaned against the car. 

“Thank you” he replied, folding his arms against his chest. “Can we go now?” he asked after a moment. “I think I’d like to get back to the office. Get started on the report for the case” he requested, turning to get into the backseat of the FBI van. Hotch and Morgan exchanged a look before getting into the van and driving off. 

~

Walking back into the BAU, Reid headed straight for his desk while the others walked into the bullpen cautiously. Hotch and Morgan go and set down their stuff, and as Hotch is walking back to his office Rossi meets with him and walks with him. They talk for a few minutes, looking out the window into the bullpen every so often before Rossi walks out of his office. He walks down to the bullpen, exchanging a glance with Morgan before stopping in front of Reid’s desk. 

“I was thinking,” he starts, trying to keep his attention spread throughout the group instead of solely on the youngest member. “All of you should come over to my house tonight. I’ll cook us some food, we can open a bottle of wine or three, and just relax for once” he suggested. They all exchanged looks while Reid kept his head down, eyes on the paperwork in front of him. 

“Well I don’t know about you, but I am not willing to pass up on Rossi’s cooking” Callahan joked. Garcia walked over to the group of them, bag in hand. 

“Did I hear something about Rossi’s cooking?” she asked. 

“Rossi’s invited us all to his house tonight,” JJ explained. Garcia’s eyes lit up like a christmas tree. 

“Oh yes! I love dinner with Chef Rossi. Everyone’s going right, please tell me everyone’s going?” she asked, looking around at her teammates who were agreeing to the night’s plans. Hotch walked out of his office, bag in hand, and made his way down to the bullpen. “Oh Hotch! Please tell me you’re coming too!” She asked, getting his attention and stopping him from leaving. 

“Um, I’m not quite sure what you mean,” he replied. Reid looked up, and immediately could tell that he knew exactly what was going on. They planned this. 

“I’m inviting the team back to my house for dinner. You should come Aaron. I’m sure Jessica wouldn’t mind staying a bit longer” Rossi explained. Hotch looked around at his team. 

“Sure. We could all use some time off” Hotch reluctantly agreed. Everyone moved to get up but Reid. Rossi stayed in front of his desk, looking over at the kid working on the case report by himself. 

“Spencer, you know you don’t have to get that done now. Come back to my place with us, you deserve some time to just relax” Rossi tried to suggest. Reid just shook his head, keeping his eyes down. 

“I’m good. I can get this report done tonight and get some sleep before work tomorrow” he replied swiftly. Rossi sighed, and looked towards the one person who can persuade Reid to do almost anything. Penelope Garcia. She turned back from looking at Morgan to look Rossi in the eyes. Her eyes flitted between him and the boy genius before she made a move. 

“Oh my Good Doctor, please don’t tell me you are skipping out on a team bonding night for paperwork?” she complained. He didn’t look up, and so she moved closer to her friend. “Spencer. You have got to get out of your bubble of work and home and come live a little” she relented, poking him in the shoulder. Closing his case file and interrupting his work, she continued “Now, you are coming with us to Rossi’s and no” she paused as he moved to interrupt her. “You aren’t allowed to back out of it. Now come my socially inept butterfly” she reached her hand out to him. He looked at her incredulously, before huffing. Grabbing his bag, he stood up and linked arms with the technical analyst insisting he socialize and walked out the doors. 

~

At Rossi’s house, everyone was outside enjoying some wine on the patio, with only Rossi and Reid staying inside the actual house. Reid was nursing a glass of water while Rossi was finishing making one of his family recipes for the team. Rossi watched the genius carefully, as the kid sat reading a book from his home library. 

“Thank you,” Reid stated unexpectedly. Rossi looked up to the agent he thinks of as a surrogate kid, seeing that he hadn’t even looked up from the book he was reading. 

“For what?” he asked. Reid looked up from his reading. 

“This. I would’ve spent the entire night reliving the case, and instead I’m here” he explained while shifting in his seat. “I know Hotch told you that he was worried about me, but really there’s no need to be. I’m fine” Reid expressed, looking back at his team outside. 

“You know, I don’t know a lot about what happened to you, but from what I’ve heard from Hotch I know there’s something that nobody’s told you that you need to hear” Rossi vocalized. Reid looked back at him. “It’s okay to be angry with them”. As Rossi gave his advice, Reid’s facial expressions minutely switched from curiosity, to frustration, and then to a blank expression. 

“He didn’t have the right to tell you about that,” Reid muttered back. Rossi nodded.  
“No he did not. That’s why he didn’t. All I know is that you had a traumatic experience involving a case a while back, and that the team didn’t help you with the trauma afterwards” Rossi explained. “Now, I don’t need you to tell me what happened in that case. I just know that before the three of you arrested Elle, Hotch wasn’t worried about you being upset with the rest of them. When you came back, he was worried that he hadn’t done enough to help you. He probably hadn’t done enough, but there’s nothing that can be done about it now”. Reid nodded. 

“I know. I got over it, honestly. Hotch doesn’t need to worry” Reid replied, looking down to return to his book. 

“He may not need to, but he will anyways and you know that,” Rossi remarked. They stopped their conversation for a moment when they heard the team start to get up from their chairs outside. “Just, don’t forget to forgive them as well”. Rossi went to return to his cooking when Reid piped up to reply. 

“I already have” he answered softly, already back to reading his book. Rossi turned around once more, looking towards the people about to enter the house again. 

“You better tell him that” he remarked before turning back around and beginning to serve out the food he had prepared. Reid looked out at his mentor as they locked eyes; and Reid gave hima soft smile and a subtle nod. An unspoken message: It’s okay, everything is okay. The rest of the team wanders back into the house. 

“So, is dinner ready? I am hungry” Callahan asked as she sat on the stool next to Reid. 

“Yes it is. Now, everyone must have their wine before I can serve you properly” Rossi asserted as he placed dishes of Italian cuisine in front of each of the team members. In addition, a glass of wine was placed in front of each of them; save Dr. Reid who stuck with his water. Rossi raised his glass as he proclaimed, “To our family, pray we all will live happily in each other's lives”. They all finished the toast and enjoyed their meal. 

Despite the case that they had endured that day, the team spent the rest of the night enjoying each other’s company while they had the night to do so.


End file.
